The Wendrixville Week From Dally's POV
by outlaw420
Summary: A look at what Dallas did during Johnny and Ponyboys week in the church


THE WENDRIXVILLE WEEK FROM DALLY'S POV

The next morning I woke up at Buck's. My ribs hurt like hell. Tim had really done a number on me. I thought about Johnny and Pony and that soc. I can't believe Johnny could really do that. Murder? Not Johnny, man. Made me kinda proud, though.

I started to head over to the Shepard's, but Soda and Steve stopped me about 2 blocks from Bucks.

"Dally", Soda yelled. I kept walkin, hoping they would go away. I wasn't in a big hurry to break the news. "Hey Dally, I know you hear me, man!"

"Oh, hey, Soda. Whats happening?" I tried to act like I didn't know why they were looking for me.

"You seen Pony or Johnny?" Steve asked.

"Not since last night, man. I left em at the drive-in. Why?"

"Darry and Pony got into it, and Ponyboy ran away. You sure you aint seen em Dal?" I could tell Soda was worried about his kid brother, but what good would it do to tell them what had happened.

"Nah, man. I left the Admiral and got in a fight with Shepard. I slept it off at Buck's." Close enough to the truth.

I knew they didn't believe me, but I couldn't rat 'em out. Not even to Soda and Steve. Besides, if they found out I helped them get away, Darry would stomp me good. That was one fight even I didn't want to be in.

"We saw Two-Bit this morning, and he said they got hassled by some socs after the movie. Something happened at the park last night…" I could still hear Steve rambling about the park and last night, but I couldn't listen.

"Come on, man. That soc getting killed didn't have nothing to do with me or them." It didn't. If they would stay on their side of the damn tracks, none of this shit would have ever happened anyway. Punk deserved it.

"Well, some of the guys who were with him gave the cops a pretty good description…." It didn't matter. The fuzz were pulling up, and I knew where this was going. Guess the Shepard's would have to wait.

One of the cops got out and said I would need to come with them for questioning. Yeah, right. Questioning always led to booking, even if I didn't do it. Those assholes have some kind of hard-on for hauling me downtown.

"Wait! Dallas didn't have anything to do with it…" Soda tried to tell the cops that they had the wrong guy, but it was a waste of time. Right or wrong, something had happened on our side of town, to a soc no less. The first stop had to be finding Dallas Winston. Nothing bad happened on the East side without me getting blamed for it. I thought about Johnny, and just held my hands out for the cuffs.

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The cops held me for about 3 hours, asking the same stupid questions over and over again. Finally, after they said they had witnesses who could name the suspects, I "admitted" that I had seen them and that they were on their way to Texas.

"Now if you have something to arrest me for, do it. If not, then I got better places to be then this." I hated police stations. Hated it. They put you in this little room with these bright lights, and sat face to face with you, asking you the same questions. Their breath always right in your face, smelling like coffee and cigarettes, with a little bit of Old Spice or some other old man smell blended together, hitting my nose. It made me sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

Finally, they figured out that I really wasn't involved in killing the soc. One cop even said that if I had been I would've been too proud to deny it. That was true. But, really, I was starting to wish it had been me instead of Johnny. Johnny couldn't make it in jail, man. No way. Jail ain't for people like Johnny. It's for people who don't care and don't feel. If Johnny went to jail it would kill him. Who would look out for him? Me or the other guys were always takin' up for Johnny. I couldn't let Johnny go to jail, because….because…… A sick feeling came into my stomach. A feeling I had never felt before. What the hell? I had to get Johnny out of this, man. I had to. Johnny couldn't make it in…I had to stop thinking about Johnny. I felt weird. My stomach was all knotted up. I was so glad to see Two-Bit sitting in the hallway when they let me out of custody, because I knew he could get my mind off of Johnny. Two-Bit was never worried about anything. Before today.

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Two-Bit didn't ask if I knew anything about the murder. He knew I did. I had never seen him so damn serious before. He kept asking where Johnny was. I told him I didn't know, but he just wouldn't listen. Dammit.

"Lookit," he finally said. "I know you know where they are. Are they really in Texas? You better tell me, Dally, or you aint getting out this side of the state line, man."

"Alright! Look, they ain't in Texas, and they aint in Tulsa. Their safe, man. I can't tell you where they are, and I swear Two-Bit, if you tell Darry I know anything, they'll be looking for your ass, too." I didn't know really what I would do to Two-Bit, but anything would be better than explaining this shit to Darry.

Two-Bit didn't say much else, but he gave me his word he wouldn't tell Darry as long as I kept him up to speed on what was going on with Johnny and Pony. I probably could have told him where they were, but again, what good would it do? Just one more person to draw attention to that church in Wendrixville. I knew as long as nobody found out about it, they wouldn't get caught. I had used the church before, and it was the perfect place to lay low when the fuzz was after you.

I had to use the church about a year before that. There was this annual rodeo at the Tulsa Fairgrounds, and there was a big cash prize for the winner that year. I wanted to be in the rodeo, but I had hurt my leg jumping a ditch with a motorcycle and I couldn't even get close to getting on a horse. Anyway, I watched the little room where the money was being kept at the arena for a few days. I knew when someone would be there, and when they wouldn't. The night of the rodeo, the box full of money came up missing and I headed north. I found this little redneck town about 20 miles north of Tulsa. Had about 2 cops, I think. Anyway, there was this big hill called Jay Mountain. There wasn't a house around for miles, and only one road in. I followed the road and found this rundown church there. Looked like it hadn't been used for years, and I made myself at home. You could see all of this little backwater town called Wendrixville, and all the traffic coming out of Skiatook from the hill. I hung out for about 2 weeks then I went into this gas station in town and saw a newspaper. The headlines on the Tulsa World was about how the cops had arrested a maintenance man at the rodeo grounds for the theft. I bummed a ride back to Tulsa that afternoon.

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Two-Bit dropped me off at Tim's house. Even though me and ol' Tim had it out last night, we were still buddies. I knew he would let me crash there for a few days.

"I ran into Soda earlier. He wanted me to give you this. It's for Ponyboy." Two Bit said as I slid out out the passenger seat. He handed me an envelope with Ponyboy's name on it.

"Thanks for the ride, Two-Bit."

I spent the next few days sleeping on Tim's couch. I thought about Johnny and Ponyboy a little. I had to figure out what to do with them. They couldn't stay in that church forever. Of course, they couldn't come back home either.

I went back to Buck's on Friday night, real late. He had an old T-Bird out back. I had to push it a block away and siphon gas from some rich kid's car to get it to start. I had to go check on them. They had been away a week, and a lot of people were asking questions. Maybe I could take them north, since the cops were looking south and all over our neighborhood. Wherever I took them, I had to get them out of that church.


End file.
